The Bastion was quiet now.
Not the kind of quiet that came with peace, nor the silence of reverence. This quiet was heavier born from the kind of truth that buried itself into the bones of everyone who had heard it. Dust still hung in the air from my battle with the Echo-Warden, shimmering like ghost-ash under the fractured skylights of the ancient hall. Beneath my feet, the scorched ground still pulsed faintly with the remnants of unleashed power. I stood alone in the center, the weight of the Last Warden's title settling across my shoulders like a mantle forged from the lives of every Saiyan who had come before.
I hadn't spoken much since it happened. Neither had the others. The truth of what Eryx had revealed to us about the Eclipse about the coming war, the Concord, the return of the Black Core, it was all still sinking in.
"You really went and did it, huh?" Taro's voice broke the silence like a thrown pebble into a still pond. He dropped a half-crushed canteen on the slab of stone we'd turned into a makeshift table. "Akuma, Last Warden. Has a weird ring to it."
I didn't look up. "It's not a title I asked for."
Korr stepped into view, arms crossed, his expression unreadable as always. "It's one you earned. Whether you like it or not."
"I don't need your approval, old man," I muttered, but my tone lacked any real bite.
Korr smirked faintly. "Good. Because you're not getting it. What you will get is the truth, we don't have time to breathe. Xyros is moving. The Shadow Saiyans are no longer a legend, now they're a coming storm."
Eryx, quiet until now, approached the edge of the chamber. He moved like a man who had seen too many wars, too many ends. He stared out at the twin moons rising in the horizon. "And he's not alone. The Eclipsed Concord is moving."
That pulled my gaze up. "You mentioned them before. Who the hell are they?"
"Once," Eryx said, voice low, "they were noble houses. Senators, diplomats, Saiyan aristocracy during the First Empire. When the war with the Shadow Saiyans ended and the Black Core was shattered, they were the ones who believed the war itself was punishment. They saw the corruption not as a curse, but as a prophecy."
"Let me guess," Taro said. "They think Xyros is some kind of messiah."
Eryx nodded. "And they're offering him more than loyalty. They're offering him entire star systems."
I clenched my fists. "How many?"
"Enough," Korr answered. "And we just got intel that one of them is nearby. Varron-5."
The name hit something in me. That was a military world, an old Saiyan fortress-planet from the unification era.
"It's under siege," Eryx said. "Half the planet aligned with the Concord. The other half refused—and they're being hunted down."
I didn't hesitate. "We leave tonight."
No one argued.
When we departed, it was under cover of silence. The Revenant Spark, our sleek black cruiser, cut through subspace like a blade through water. I sat alone most of the ride, staring out into the void, my mind caught between the past and what was coming. The Warden's mantle itched beneath my skin, not like a burden, but like armor I hadn't grown into yet.
The closer we got, the more chaotic the signals became. Varron-5 was already in flames by the time we broke through orbit. The Concord had laid siege to its major cities, and the rebels—the loyalists—were barely holding ground. The planet's skies were thick with smoke and fire, lit by energy blasts and artillery streaks like blood vessels across a dying world.
We didn't wait for clearance. We dropped into the battlefield headfirst, like comets. I hit the surface first, slamming into the concrete of a ruined plaza, scattering enemy troops in all directions. Energy flared to life around me, gold and violet surging in tandem as the Warden's mark lit my veins like fire.
The Concord's soldiers rushed me.
The first didn't even make it. I shattered his weapon with a backhand and drove a spinning kick into his gut, sending him sailing through a support beam. Two more tried to flank me—one with a dual-blade infused with Black Core residue, the other armored in ancient eclipse sigils. I ducked the first, caught the second's blade between my palms, and unleashed a burst of condensed ki that sent them both flying.
Taro arrived behind me with a thunderous crash, a grin stretched across his face. "Hope you saved some for me."
Korr followed, his form a blur, cutting through enemy lines with precision and fury. Every move was calculated, every strike fatal.
We were war incarnate.
But the real fight hadn't begun yet.
I expanded my senses—reaching out, not just with my ki, but with that new instinct the Warden title gave me. I felt her before I saw her.
A presence like burning defiance, pinned beneath a collapsing sector.
I moved, leaping building to building, cutting through the battlefield like lightning until I found her.
A Saiyan woman, bleeding from a gash at her temple, crouched behind broken armor plating, fending off three elite Concord enforcers. Her aura flickered, burning out.
I crashed into the ground behind her with a boom that made all four of them stop. She turned, eyes wide.
"If you're another Concord freak, you picked the wrong damn Saiyan to mess with."
"Relax," I said, stepping between her and the zealots. "I'm not here to convert you."
"Then who the hell are you?"
I powered up, the Warden's sigil burning across my back. The enforcers hesitated.
She stared.
"You're him."
I smirked. "Akuma. The one who's going to help you take this planet back."
She rose to her feet, staggering but still fierce. "Commander Ryza. I don't trust heroes."
"Good," I replied. "I'm not one."
Then the sky exploded.
A Concord titan descended—a massive, mutated Saiyan infused with Black Core fragments. Ten feet tall, skin etched with glowing void runes. Its power made the air ripple.
Ryza's face went pale. "That thing… we've been trying to bring it down for three days."
I walked forward, slowly.
"You took three days. I'll take one punch."
The titan bellowed and charged. I met it halfway, my fist glowing with the combined strength of every Warden who came before me.
When we collided, the sound was thunder. When my punch landed, the titan imploded—core first—its body scattering across the battlefield like ash in a hurricane.
For a moment, everything stopped.
Then, Ryza lifted her scouter, stared at the readings, and laughed.
"You're insane," she said. "But I think I like you."
Together, we rallied the rebels. With Taro in a stolen tank—laughing maniacally—and Korr tearing down enemy command posts, the tide turned. The Concord fell back. Not out of weakness, but fear.
They'd seen something that frightened them more than prophecy.
Hope.
Later, as the fires died and the wounded were tended, Ryza approached me beneath the ruins of a shattered statue.
"You're going to get a lot of people killed chasing this Warden dream."
I nodded. "I know."
"Good," she said, offering her hand. "Means you're not stupid. Just stubborn."
I took it.
Behind us, Korr joined us quietly. "We sent the signal. Other systems are watching. The war has officially begun."
Taro raised a salvaged flask. "And we just gave them a reason to fight."
Above, the stars shifted. The shadows moved.
The Eclipse wasn't coming.
It had already begun.
Find out next time on Ancient legends!!